No Heart
by Dreamy Duskywing
Summary: Xemnas has a rare psychological condition.  He is advised to adopt a dog to prove to him that he does have a heart.  But the puppy isn't all as he seems, and who is the strange boy in his dreams?  - Under Revision! -


**A.N - **I have had this short for too long. I was all inspired to begin with, but my muse ran away with the rest of the plot and I ended up bumbling through alone. I hope you guys like it. Any suggestions, critisisms, reassurances ect are pounced on and drooled over happily. lol. Please review! *sweat drop*

**Disclaimer** - I do not own the characters. However, I do own the fictional psychological disorder and I borrowed Hazel and her babies from a friend :)

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Xemnas scowled as his father led him into the animal shelter. He was not at all impressed by his psychiatrist's plan to help him deal with his 'insecurities'. Xemnas had a rare psychological condition which tended to be called 'Nobody Syndrome'. The boy believed that he had no heart, despite all of the evidence he had been shown to prove the contrary. The silver haired teen had multiple x-rays of his heart, a scan of his brain to prove he had emotions and even a recording of his heartbeat. But Xemnas was adamant that he did not have a heart, and was obsessed by the idea of getting one. He had attempted to convince his doctors to put him on a donation list and frequently watched films and plays that evoked high emotional reactions in other viewers, to no effect. Xemnas' was an unusual and severe case, Nobody Syndrome usually occurred in the middle children of a large family who felt overshadowed by their siblings and ignored by their parents. The feeling of not being wanted evolved into a self protection method of not feeling anything. Xemnas was an only child, but adverse to the stereotype of a rich only child, Xemnas' parents doted on him. They spent lots of time together, at home and on holidays. It was a rare occasion that Xemnas was left home alone; he was 16, old enough to be trusted, especially since the house's resident staff members to keep the large mansion running. The boy's psychiatrist believed that if he were given an animal to care for, he would form attachments to it, thereby proving he had a heart. Xemnas fought this prescription, saying he didn't want a pet; he didn't want a flea ridden stray sharing his room at all. He was ignored and that's where the story begins, Xemnas is getting a puppy.

Sephiroth ignored his son's baleful glare and smiled charmingly at the slight brunette woman who was stood behind the counter. Her big blue eyes crinkled at the corners as she beamed at the father and son, shifting her plaited hair over her shoulder and brushing the escapee curls back from her face. "Good afternoon sirs, how may I help you today?" she chirped. Sephiroth glanced at Xemnas who was now glaring down into an enclosure filled with an assortment of guinea pigs.

"Good afternoon Miss. My son would like..." Xemnas snarled something under his breath and received a stern stare from his father, "to adopt a puppy please." The woman nodded, glancing with slight trepidation at the teenager and turned to the door behind the counter.

"Sora!" she called before turning back to the customer. "My son will show you around. You're lucky, we have lots of puppies at the moment, one of the recent rescues had a litter and the pups are old enough to get sent to new homes now. All animals have had a health check and are sterilised as a matter of course. This usually helps the males especially in having more docile natures. We'll need to take your details down so that a member of the staff can come and check on the animal's living environment a week after adoption, and then once more after you've had the animal for about a month." As she reeled off the customary information, a bright eyed teen bounded out through the door and shifted his weight form one foot to the other until the woman stopped talking.

"Yes mum?" he said, smiling in a friendly manner at the man before him. The boy's eyes were startlingly blue, wide and innocent in a manner almost identical to a new baby's. His hair was a disarray of brunet spikes which Sephiroth would usually find insulting, but he found that the hairstyle actually seemed to fit the boy.

"This man and his son are looking for a puppy. Would you show them around please?" The boy nodded eagerly and bounded through the door. Sephiroth grabbed Xemnas' wrist and tugged him after the boy.

"And they're so cute!" the brunet lad chattered away, oblivious to the darkly glowering boy held captive behind him by his father. "They love to play and have already learnt to only ... you know..." the boy whispered, "_go..._" glancing at the two customers behind him meaningfully, "on the paper. So it shouldn't be hard to house train your pup." They halted in front of a large enclosure with a mother dog lying as if exhausted, surrounded by a horde of wriggling, nipping and yapping puppies. The silver haired man was astonished to count thirteen puppies as Sora opened the stable style door's top half and turned to the quiet silver haired boy. "You can go in if you like. They're all used to people playing with them and Hazel doesn't mind at all, do you girl?" the last of Sora's sentence was directed towards the female dog who thumped her tail slightly on the ground. She mostly resembled a Boxer dog, but features in her head structure and her colouring hinted at a mix in her breeding. When Sora and Sephiroth turned to see if Xemnas would hoist himself over the remaining bottom half of the stable door, he was halfway across the room, crouched in front of a snarling puppy behind a metal mesh. Sora let out a little squeak and rushed over to pull the silver haired boy away from the snarling puppy. "Oh, no! You don't want him. He's got an awful temperament, he bites and the two families who have homed he both brought him back in a couple of days. Yesterday a lady adopted him and bought him back an hour later, babbling about how he was a demon dog." Xemnas scowled at Sora until the boy released him and crouched in front of the dog again. Not to be put off, Sora made another attempt. "Wouldn't you rather one of Hazel's pups? They're very sweet and kind and loving..." his words trailed off as Xemnas' golden eyes locked onto the puppy's. After a few minutes of a staring competition, the dog growling and snarling the entire time, it slowly quietened and let out a little whine before rolling onto its back and tucking its tail between its legs, wagging it slightly in a submissive gesture. Xemnas held the dog's gaze until it shifted its eyes away and then looked from his father to the babbling boy.

"I want this one." He declared before turning his attention back to the small dog before him. He had never seen a breed like it. The tiny thing would fit into the palms of his two cupped hands. It had almost glowing yellow eyes and a nasty scar forming a cross between them. It looked startlingly wolf-like, with a narrow muzzle and thick ruff despite its youth. The most distinctive feature however, was the puppy's coat. Never had Xemnas imagined any living creature could have hair such a shade of blue. Though the dog's coat was shot through with silvers and greys, it was still obviously blue. When no movement from his father or the boy occurred, Xemnas arched one silver eyebrow and spoke in a low tone. "Well?" he asked, bemused by their lack of action. Sora wrung his hands before him.

"I'm not getting in that cage with that crazy animal!" he squeaked, eyes wide with fear as the dog let out a faint burbling growl.

Xemnas shook his head and stood up, causing Sora to cringe back. Rolling his eyes, the elder teen unbolted the door to the cage and stepped in. The blue coloured puppy planted its rear end on the floor, gazing up at the boy and waved its tail to and fro. "You're coming with me puppy." The boy said quietly, leaning down to hold his hand out to the dog to let it sniff him. The dog gently pressed its cold, wet black nose to the boy's hand and then shoved his head under it, asking to be petted. Sora gaped at the interaction and scurried out to the front desk, leaving Sephiroth and Xemnas (carrying the puppy in his arms) to follow. As the door opened, the woman turned with a big smile.

"So you've chosen one?" she asked before her face contorted with shock and a hint of horror. "Oh no, sir! That dog...he's vicious and destructive. The last two homes he's been placed in complained of shredded sofas and gardens being dug up. Your son would be much better off with..." Xemnas was clutching the puppy tightly against his chest, feeling its rumbling growls reverberate through his body.

"No. I want this dog thank you. If I don't adopt him you are surely only going to euthanize him. And I have seen no sign of the overly aggressive behaviours you are accusing him of. Father, I don't want a different dog, I want this one." Sephiroth's face lit up with a proud smile as Xemnas traced the X-shaped scar on the puppy's face in a way that could only be described as tender or affectionate. The man turned to the flustered woman behind the counter and smiled charmingly.

"It is quite alright ma'am. Xemnas and the puppy will be going to puppy obedience classes, the dog will be kept in a puppy cage at night and will otherwise be constantly accompanied by Xemnas. My son will prevent the dog from any destructive behaviour. Now, what papers must I fill out?" The woman bit her bottom lip in concern but dug out a couple sheets of paper and started assisting Sephiroth in filling them out.

"He'll need a name." Sora said quietly, shyly looking up at the taller boy who was cradling the puppy gently. Xemnas looked down at the dog thoughtfully.

"Breed...breed..." the woman was muttering to herself, flicking through a book and comparing the images to the puppy.

"Xemnas, bring the dog here please?" The boy walked over and held the dog in plain sight to be compared to the book. "Perhaps he is a mongrel? Or a cross?"

"I don't think so. He looks like a pure breed...see the shape of the muzzle and ears? They are very similar to that of a wolf, as well as the thick fur." The woman flicked through another page, frowning slightly. Sora had planted himself at the computer and suddenly piped up.

"I think it's called a 'Heart Hound'." He said, eyeing the puppy thoughtfully. "They're supposed to be really rare and hard to breed. They're distinguished by coats tinged with a blue colour and piercing eyes. The website says that they tend to be aggressive but are very loyal to their owners. They are very clever and require lots of mental stimulation. They're also very close to wolves, so they need more exercise than even a working dog like a collie would and it might make him difficult to train." Everyone stared at Sora who shuffled uncomfortably before darting into the kennels saying it was time for him to feed the animals. The woman diligently filled out the paper work.

"What're you going to name him?" she asked the boy who was watching the puppy gnaw on its paw.

"Saïx." He said and a small smile appeared on his lips as the puppy blinked his almost luminescent yellow eyes up at him.

Xemnas and Saïx began puppy classes the very next afternoon, hastily organised by Sephiroth. The trainer had even agreed to see them privately to begin with before integrating the new pair in with one of his larger group classes. Much to Xemnas' amusement, his new dog would not listen to the trainer, but as soon as he instructed the puppy to do something, the creature would immediately struggle to interpret the odd sounds and gestures his master made and carry out said command. The only other person the dog seemed to hold any level of respect for was Sephiroth. He tormented the staff at the house, but desisted in causing bodily harm after Xemnas had scolded him and sent him to his bed for the hour following the time he'd bitten Luxord's hand as the servant went to pet the strikingly coloured canine. It was quite clear that Saïx was besotted with Xemnas, and to those who knew the boy well, it was obvious that the feeling was mutual. Saïx was allowed into Xemnas' sanctuary (his bedroom) and even slept there, but not on the bed. They went everywhere together, Sephiroth managed to get the dog declared an aid dog. The pair was inseparable. Xemnas' psychiatrist was overjoyed by the boy's progress and over the following months Xemnas began grudgingly accepting that he was in fact, capable of love. And to love someone or something, one needed a heart. He hadn't really needed the psychiatrist's help in finally admitting this. Since Saïx had come into his life, Xemnas' dreams had been filled with a blue haired boy with striking golden yellow eyes. The boy came to mean a great deal to Xemnas, though he could never remember the specifics of the dreams, he could always bring the image of the boy to mind.

As the puppy grew from its childhood and into a gangly adolescence, the boy in Xemnas' dreams followed suit. Though he became equally as coltish and long limbed in appearance, the boy retained a grace of movement that Xemnas could always remember. He took to drawing the boy and his dog in pictures together. Their hair was so similar, their eyes equally as bewitching that the pair complemented each other perfectly. Xemnas felt a strange longing to be around the boy in his dreams; he always felt melancholy when he awoke. Hesitantly, he voiced his concerns to his psychiatrist who cautiously queried his patient's sexual orientation. Xemnas stormed from the room in disgust. Not that he had any problem with homosexuality. It was simply the idea of him and the boy in his dreams _together_. He'd watched the boy grow up, but he was still too young for Xemnas to even _consider_...

That night, Xemnas once more dreamt of the boy. Saïx was sleeping softly beside him, allowed onto the bed as a source of comfort. Xemnas was troubled by the idea the psychiatrist had put into his head, but was more troubled by his dreams that night. As usual, he opened his eyes to his own room, but not. It looked the same in size and shape, but it held no colour. Everything was in shades of white. Greys and blacks and white all mingling to create a sterile space. Out of the window, Xemnas could see a heart shaped moon, shining its buttery white glow down upon the sleeping boy beside him. It glinted off of blue hair and shone off of sleepily opened yellow eyes. The boy smiled as he focussed on Xemnas, eyes lighting up with adoration. Before he knew what was happening, the boy had nuzzled against Xemnas and he, in instinctive reaction, had curved his arms about the slender body. It felt safe and right at the time, but when he awoke, Xemnas was horrified by his dreaming self's actions.

The dreams continued. The boy grew up, quicker than one would expect. Xemnas would find himself going to bed with pyjamas on and waking into his dream covered only by his sheets. Normally, this would cause him no concerns at all, who cared if they were naked in their own room, especially in a dream? But the event of himself being unclothed was always accompanied by the boy sleeping beside him in a similar state of undress. Xemnas began dreading sleep. Nothing he did stopped the dreams. He considered his sexuality, went out and observed both men and women and found no one attractive. Until he slept. Sometimes the boy would not awaken and Xemnas would spend his dream simply observing the sleeping adolescent beside him in the bed. He memorised the planes of his face, the way his hair caught and threw back the moon's light. The odd pointed tips of his ears. The young man, because he really looked to be Xemnas' age by that point, was beautiful in an ethereal manner. The major point, other than his attraction to the youth, that bothered Xemnas, was the X shaped scar centred between his eyes. Why his subconscious would create a being with such similarities to his dog was beyond the boy. It tortured him for a long time; did this mean that he felt attracted to his pet? Swiftly he discerned that his dog held no qualities or features that he felt remotely attracted to, which was relieving. Still, the boy in his dreams remained, never speaking, occasionally watching and leaning into Xemnas' embrace until one night he simply had to say _something_. Feeling extraordinarily foolish, Xemnas sat up in his bed and looked down at the boy beside him. The blue haired male also sat up, pooling the sheets around himself in an act of modesty as his yellow eyes met Xemnas' golden ones.

"Saïx?" The silver haired male asked hesitantly, so fed up of the male being there and not knowing who he was or why he haunted his dreams. He was surprised to see the other smile languidly.

"Took you long enough." Saïx murmured, moving closer to Xemnas to tuck a stray strand of his hair behind an ear. Xemnas quivered slightly beneath the touch and let out a sigh as the other male moved his hand away. Frowning thoughtfully, half unsure about his actions, Xemnas shifted to kneel beside Saïx, bringing his hands to cup the other's face.

"You could have said something before." He reprimanded.

"But it was so much more entertaining to watch you figuring it out. Although, were you to have taken any longer I would have had to..." Saïx was cut off by lips pressing against his own. Gladly he returned the gesture, winding his arms around the warm body of his master.

"Saïx, you're familiar. This room, I remember it...the moon, is important...I don't understand." Saïx pushed Xemnas down onto the bed and bridged his body over him.

"Don't worry, Superior, you'll remember in time." And as a spark of recognition lit Xemnas' eyes, Saïx claimed his lips, humming in pleasure as the motion was reciprocated. Things may have changed, for better or worse. They may have received hearts, but their memories lived on, some buried deeper than others. As Xemnas' tongue requested entrance to Saïx's mouth, the Diviner knew that his memories were returning in full. It took another handful of seconds as tongues battled for dominance before Xemnas flipped them over, Saïx below him now. He nipped at the other man's lower lip and smirked at the growl he received in response before returning his attention to loving Saïx as he could never love him before. It was a good thing he'd discovered he had a heart after all.

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**A.N - **eeheh...uhm, yeah? Review...please?

**_Dreamy xxx_**


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